Join the club ( a bit raw and personal)

It's not a club you'd want to join. First we joined the Unemployment Club. I would have thought that we would fall apart. But we're standing strong. In a way, I feel that things have never been better. Not financially of course, but we're spending more time as a family and we're happy. It's kind of weird. Shouldn't we feel depressed or in despair? Well we don't. Sure, it's a bit scary at times, but I guess we know that it won't last. We've all had to step up a little and it feels good.

Here is a chance for new opportunities. John and I had talked about donating plasma before and we just never did. Well now we're going as often as we can. It's nice to bring in a little extra money and spend time together doing something to help others. John is working on going back to school. I think it's awesome. He has wonderful benfefits to use from being in the military. As a homeschooling family I know that this will be great for us. It will teach our kids a lot and leave a big impression. Heck, it might even teach me a thing or two.   ;-)


I've mentioned before that money has been tight since John got out of the Navy. We had carefully planned it out, but some things didn't happen like they were supposed to, which meant that we didn't have as much income. About a month or two before he got laid off, we started talking about short selling our home.

There were multiple reasons:

• Our income was about $1100 less than when we qualified for the home in 2006
• Even though our income shrank, the bills weren't getting any smaller
• We were extremely upside down (our home is worth $70,000 less than what we paid for and we've refinanced a few times)
• The commute was getting to us (we live a good hour and a half round-trip from anywhere or civilization as I call it)
• Because of the commute, we were spending a good amount of money on gas (and putting plenty of miles on our vehicles)
• It was all wearing on us, we were getting tired on the drives home
• We felt like we were getting nowhere, struggling just to get by
• When we first moved out here, part of the reason was because we couldn't afford to stay in the same county as we were before. Now that houses have gone down, we feel that we have a chance to get back to where we came from. (eventually)

Then my husband got laid off in October, so we really had no choice but to join the short sale club. We could barely get by before, how could we get by with even less money coming in? We're surprised that we've been able to stay here this long. Over the last 2-3 years we have watched our neighborhood disintegrate as our neighbors have moved out up and down and all around our street. So here we are next on the list.

Please know that we do LOVE our house, our neighborhood, our neighbors and our community. It's just our time to go. It has been awesome and we'll miss it, but we are ready to move on to our new chapter in life.

Our kids are definitely learning life skills right now.

• Coping Skills
• Problem Solving
• The power of laughter
• The importance of a good sense of humor
• Working together as a team

Our home is a decent size. Including the partially finished basement, we have about 3200 square feet. Well we have gotten pretty darn comfortable here. Yet, I doubt our next home will be the same size. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to downsize. Besides, I know we have too much stuff.  We have all been working our butts off to get this house ready to show to people. And they have been filing in left and right. Our lives are chaotic and crazy right now. We still have plenty of stuff to do, but it seems doable. I'm looking at this as a fresh start. I'm usually pretty positive and easy going, but I'm surprised at just how well I'm handling all this. I've been pleasantly surprised that my husband is reacting in the same way. When we heard that John might got laid off, I thought I'd cry when it actually happened. Then I thought I'd cry if we had to sell the house. Yet I keep getting through it all without a tear. We'll come out of this better than ever.

There's always a reason

My life wouldn't be my life without little situations that have meaning. Sometimes I think of a situation and think, wow what a waste of time that was. Other times I find out there was a reason for that situation. Sometimes I find out years later, sometimes right away.

We're all connected, there's guidance from above, and I'm all kinds of emotional just thinking about it.

Yesterday, for a second I had a moment that I thought was a waste of my time.

I will share my story from an e-mail I just sent my dad....

First off, we've been looking to upgrade our vehicles. The cars are getting older with more and more miles on them, so we've been looking around. I've been wanting an F150 ever since we got one as a rental awhile back. So yesterday I was at Ken Garff Ford in American Fork.





It ended up being an interesting situation. I didn't really see anything in our price range or more like in our price range that we wanted, but this lady was determined for me to come in and see if they could do anything for us. Well they couldn't. Unless I wanted to accept $500 for the Explorer and van. (each) And if I wanted a Fusion. Actually I don't even know if that was 100% in our price range.





While this guy was running around checking on things, this lady sat and chatted with me and Jeremy. She was asking him if he was going to be in the Navy like his dad. He told her that he used to want to be in the Army, but now he's thinking it would be fun to work with Grandpa Don at the Book Bindery. After a few minutes, she said she used to work at a Bindery for 20 years. She asked the name of the Bindery (Utah Book Binding Company) and said it sounded familiar. (it is now Family Heritage Publishers) Well she had worked at Hiller Book Binding Company which sounded familiar to me. I guess her uncle started that company. I told her that my grandpa might have worked with her uncle. I told her she should ask him if he knew Glenn Hancock. She said, he had died but her aunt would know.





So this morning I looked in the book about Grandma and Grandpa, and sure enough it was Hiller Bookbinding Company. How crazy is that? Well it got me thinking that we need to go and visit Grandma and Grandpa soon. Would you want to go with us on Sunday? We have a gift for Kathie for her birthday, so either way we'd like to get together if you're not busy.





I'm taking the kids to the downtown library today, so e-mail or call and let me know.


Love,


Jill


Life is too short, we don't see my grandparents often enough. Maybe once every 2 years. This lady came into my life at this point and time for a reason. I'm not sure what it is beyond the fact that I need to visit my grandparents!  I'm so grateful that my grandparents made a book about their lives. It helps me to know and understand who I am. Just flipping through the pages and seeing my grandparents and great grandparents has made me cry for the last 20 minutes. I can't explain it, but I'm overcome with emotions.